A little guidance please

[Aidan The Jedi]

Hello everyone, I am a nineteen year old with dreams of becoming an artist. I plan to pursue a bachelors in digital design and animation but currently I am simply trying to develop my drawing skills. I am working though Fun With a Pencil by Andrew Loomis but I am struggling very badly. I basically have zero drawing skills and it is really frustrating to not even be able to draw the silly cartoon faces that Loomis says is easy. No matter how frustrating it is I will not give up because this is my dream. I understand I need practice and time but do you guys think I should continue to work with Fun with a pencil or go in another direction?

[Mr-Joe]

The saying practice makes perfect is a good starting place, the more you practice and make mistakes the better you can know not how to make those mistakes.

Drawing on the right side of the brain by betty edwards and how to draw what you see by rudy de reyna are good starting books.

[Aidan The Jedi]

Mr. Joe thanks for the help I have looked through Right Side of the Brain and it looks good. I think I will use both Right Side of the Brain and Fun with a Pencil to continue developing my skills. Hopefully in a month or two of steady drawing I will see improvement.

[Aidan The Jedi]

Also, how much time should I be drawing per day?

[Mr-Joe]

I can't answer that question because time is relative, so the simplest reply could be quality over quantity.

if you scribble without purpose for 23 hours a day you might get something out of it, if you draw with precision accuracy and focus for 20 minutes a day, you also might get something out of it.

[rem92]

Dont ask how much time you should draw per day man.. just draw as much as you can in the smartest way you can. Nobody is born with a god given talent man.. is all hard work. Now go and work hard.. there is nothing else to it.

[Aidan The Jedi]

Alright thanks, you guys both have given me good advice. I appreciate it thanks again. Time to get to work lol

[Whirly]

Also start a sketchbook here!

[volen]

I've found Kimon Nicolaides' book - the natural way to draw, to have been the thing that sort of propelled me most out of all the beginner's books. I've tried Betty Edwards' book too, but this one is geared towards practice... It's really a page of reading, followed by 20 hours of practice. I've only done a few chapters, but it really helped loosen me up. I used to be, and still am very very stiff when it comes to drawing. I focus too much on minor details and want every tiny corner to be perfect and then I find that all the perfect little corners make up a disjointed whole. With these exercises I just got to scribble a lot and just got to loosen up a bit. I'd say there is no standard entry point, first just draw everything, think about why the objects you're looking at appear the way they do and just keep drawing. I think the most fundamental thing, before you can move up to any technical knowledge is to just gain some accuracy in perceiving angles. It's very very frustrating to not be able to match what you see with what you draw. So some basic accuracy will be very helpful when you afterwards start measuring and try to be more precise with your proportions.
I'd say the best beginning steps are accuracy, proportions and then you can start thinking about perspective and slowly build on top of that foundation . These few things should keep you busy for quite some time though

[sparksel]

Draw a bit every day, as much or as little as you want. Make it a reward, rather than a task, if you can--if you end up getting too frustrated, it'll make it harder to keep going in the future. And remember: even the people who you most admire now were once terrible. Like, seriously, so terrible. We all start out that way.

Some art teacher mantras that you may find useful:
Work general to specific
Pay attention to the negative shapes
You should be looking more at the thing you're drawing than the paper
Check your angles

And don't forget to warm up, either! Either designate some time where everything you draw will just be a throwaway doodle (theoretically--you may end up liking those doodles more than the finished piece) or just scribble circles and things to get your hands warmed up.

Good luck!

[iMigraine]

I just found this video tutorial series from a high school art teacher. Really helpful presenting the basics. http://www.youtube.com/user/HardinDe...ature=g-high-u Start at his 1-0 Beginning Foundations video and work your way up.